Tom Cruise's Career Refuses To Die. Is It Time For Us To Take Him Seriously Again?

That sentiment, expressed by Paul Thomas Anderson to Rolling Stone in 2000, was something once shared by millions of Tom Cruise fans. That was when the Top Gun star was emboldened by his unequaled popularity. Instead of banking on his celebrity to cash in on blockbuster movies, he was appearing in Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant and risqué final film Eyes Wide Shut and delivering the performance of his career in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia.

Despite the words “all time, ever, ever, EVER”, the sentiment has since withered away, kicked into oblivion after Cruise’s couch-jumping fiasco on Oprah, and mocked from afar as the star continued to voice his Scientology beliefs. Yet all the while, Cruise never stopped doing what he does best: being a genuine movie star.

The couch-jumping incident happened when Cruise was promoting Spielberg’s War of the Worlds in 2005, and since then, the committed actor has continued giving his all, dangling 1,700 feet from a Dubai skyscraper for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol or busting some moves to Ludacris in Tropic Thunder. Even his flops, from Lions for Lambs to Rock of Ages, feature a balls-out Tom Cruise performance.

Perhaps the best reminder of Cruise’s movie star prowess hits theaters this weekend. The outstanding Edge of Tomorrow is Cruise’s best film in a decade, a sci-fi actioner brimming with thrills and wit, and that’s thanks in no small part to the actor at its creative center.

Playing a soldier in a futuristic hellscape who has to relive the same alien invasion over and over, a la Groundhog Day, Cruise’s Major Cage convincingly transitions from smarmy coward to weathered hero with a bold display of emotional fluctuations and exuberant comedy along the way. Few stars could pull off a role under such excruciating physical demands (acting in 85 pounds of metal gear) with the heart and charisma that Cruise does. And yet, a headline in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal asks, “Will Tom Cruise Hurt Edge of Tomorrow at Box Office?”

Tracking for the summer blockbuster looks more like a horror story, predicting that the $175 million production is going to lose a whole lot of money. There are two presumed reasons for the forecasted flop. First, crowds prefer sequels or branded properties against original concepts (despite how much they whine otherwise). Second, people just don’t care to see Tom Cruise anymore.

Robert Downey Jr., Brad Pitt and George Clooney seem to have more clout with fans, despite the fact that Cruise has a far more eclectic and impressive resume. Collateral, Minority Report, Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut and the Brian DePalma-directed original Mission: Impossible are just some of the Cruise movies you should have on repeat. That doesn’t even include the usual suspects among Cruise classics, from Risky Business to Jerry Maguire.

I can only think of a handful of actors who, in terms of quality, have a batting average as high — and as many home runs — as Tom Cruise. So labeling the star as a box-office liability is a tad infuriating, especially since it’s for reasons that have nothing to do with his movies. Instead, the pervasive inquiry into his personal life has consumed and overcome the very reason we fell in love with Tom Cruise in the first place.

Cruise has proven that a cult-like commitment to Scientology is bad for business. He is no longer seen as a man in “cruise control,” but a tool for a curious organization, even though most of the things Cruise actually says about Scientology are about helping people.

Cruise took a lot of flak for condemning psychotropic drugs, naming Brooke Shields in the process in a very indelicate manner. He was genuinely trying to promote healthy practices, but he was ill-equipped for handling the pushback that comes when you take a stance. John Travolta and Will Smith never got as much criticism for being Scientologists, but that’s probably because they’ve never been as open and sincere about their cause. Cruise is adamant about practicing what he preaches — and vice versa.